Altron acquires Australian fleet logistics operation

As part of its strategy to strengthen its position in international markets, JSE listed Allied Electronics Corporation Limited (Altron) today announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Altech Netstar, had acquired 100% of the shareholding of Fleet Logistics (Pty) Ltd, an Australian fleet management business based in New South Wales, Australia. Trading as EZY2C, the company specialises in fleet management solutions for local government, the car rental industry, and commercial customers.This is the second Australian acquisition by the group, with Altech Netstar having acquired Pinpoint Communications in May 2015, an Australian business with more than 15 years of experience in offering services such as vehicle telematics; asset, fleet and works management; driver and personnel identification; and certified telematics.Commenting on the EZY2C acquisition, Mteto Nyati, Altron Chief Executive, said that the acquisition would add to Altech Netstars rapidly growing subscriber base in Australia and propels Altech Netstar as a dominant competitor in the fleet management industry in Australia, with an installed base of over 40,000 vehicles.In 2015, we acquired Pinpoint Communications in the Australian market. That acquisition helped Altech Netstar to leapfrog competitors in the fleet management and telematics space. Their strong research and development capabilities continue to provide the group with technology advantage. Altech Netstar is gaining share in fleet management and delivered a solid performance in our last financial year, he said.The EZY2C acquisition gives us scale in a market that is highly fragmented. It also extends our presence into new territories previously not covered by Pinpoint Communications. The combined operations will better serve both enterprise and government customers, he added. According to Harry Louw, Managing Director of Altech Netstar, they had been working on this transaction for some time in the knowledge that it would provide Altech Netstar with a dominant foothold in Australias local government market, which requires advanced and innovative solutions to meet their very high service delivery standards.Combining EZY2C solutions with Altech Netstars wide range of solutions and low cost products will enable us to aggressively grow our business in Australia. I am also delighted that the joint Managing Directors of EZY2C, Evan Penn and Rick Firth, will be staying on in the business. This will enable us to develop the synergies that Altech Netstars large footprint in Australia will bring to EZY2C, Louw said.